Sunday, 12 January 2014

An afternoon finishing Jacobs Ladder, listening to TED lectures on psychology, brains and compassion followed by a lot of seam pressing and the first two chapters (audio book) of "A Tale of Two Cities". It's the best of times ...

In recent weeks I've managed to make quite a few grounds - from different papers and non-fabric materials while developing ideas inspired by Gwen Hedley's Drawn to Stitch (from The Thread Studio). Romance novels offer so much creative opportunity and we've played with the pages at my local art quilt group. For these ground random pages have been torn out, crumpled, softened and woven to create a different story. The brown papers used in the second piece are a mushroom bag and the inner core of a toilet roll - crumpled and crushed and unfolded so many times until they resembled chamois - woven with more of the romance novel, fused then hand stitched. All experiments and test pieces for a "bigger picture".

Saturday, 11 January 2014

The rain chased us into one of the old sheds yesterday afternoon and WMBM built a small fire while I gathered the copper and the ingredients required for dyeing with onion skins. This time we used two metres of muslin and a very sheer cotton curtain dropped into the mix after the thicker fabrics had been in for an hour. It's hard to believe the transformation. After an hour and a half of simmering away, the copper was removed and our evening meal cooked over the coals. This morning the sun has returned. Did I mention our neighbours grow onions .... about 40,000 tons of them this season!

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

The quilt top is taking shape. After scanning the soon-to-be-newly-weds invitation, RSVP and wishing well cards, several fabrics were created through Spoonflower. The colours used in the invitation documents formed the basis of colour choices for the quilt top. Combined with some "safe stalking" on social media, each fabric is linked in some way to the happy couple. Incorporating text and a request for yellow has required some rethinking and design changes. Even Riley the dog managed to make an appearance or two. Once completed, this quilt top is heading over to Barb Cowan at The Quilt Connection for a Barb's magic touch and professional finish.

A friend gifted me some special papers once used to teach music and conducting. I like to warm up with "two minute sketches" most days and the Braille paper has provided a thick and sturdy ground on which to record some of life's other melodies.

The parsley has gone to seed - the seed head makes an interesting brush while the hollow stem provides additional mark making opportunities. Blue ink (the type used in fountain pens) poured into a many-times reused meat tray, and some experimentation before adding a little bleach to the mix ...